by Kip Hartzell
John saw her coming. He turned back to the Destroyer. “Experiment one-zero-zero.” The entity looked confused. John raised up an arm and ran fingers across the computer sleeve. A force field formed around Gloria.
Rhe-A stopped, coming to her senses, she slowly set Jay down. John reached in and snatched the necklace with the three medallions. He tossed them to Draco. The creature blurred, briefly showing its true self. “We’ve been experimenting also. Now, what is your name?”
She studied the field, putting a finger to it, and watched it disintegrate. “I would be careful. It’s a multi-dimensional rotating phasic disruption field. Some of Hades’ best work. You might remember him, but Pandor-A was the one who could decipher its intricacies.”
Jay led Rhe-A away from the action, toward Draco. He was taking out his bag of medallions.
“Jay,” Rhe-A shakily said, “I’m sorry. I’m not that strong.”
“Bullshit, you are the strongest person I have ever met.”
“I can still feel them...calling.”
“Look at me.” Jay took her hands and gazed into beautiful overly blue eyes. “Concentrate on me. I will help you push them back, back through the door they came from.” Jay saw Rhe-A for who she was, her defenses were down. “You still feel guilty for what you did as a Titan, don’t you?”
“I destroyed lives.”
“It was not you, the Rhe-A I know would never willingly intentionally harm anyone, very annoying.” She smiled. “Stop punishing yourself. You have redeemed yourself a hundred times over. How many millions of people have you saved, huh, how many?”
She listened. “I don’t know.”
“That’s because you only count the ones you couldn’t save. That’s not fair to yourself. You maybe super human, but you’re still human. We have to take the good with the bad, and make the best of it.” He felt the Demons being pushed back. She gained momentum, and soon, the monsters were safely back behind a sealed door.
“I can’t believe I’m taking advice from a chimp.”
Jay smiled, and let go. He saw Draco strangely looking at them. Jay realized the whole conversation was not said out loud.
Draco shook his head, and then went back to floating the coins. They spun and twirled. One clicked into a position, and then another stopped, pointing in another direction. The creature in the cage didn’t seem to be concerned. Jay caught something out of the corner of his eye, as one by one, the medallions stopped, pointing in all directions. He tried to focus on what might be a disturbance, but it was more of a feeling. He shook it off, and glanced back at the coins. John kept asking the Destroyer questions, but she just stood there, waiting. There it is, Jay thought, if he didn’t look directly at it, he could see the disruption. The same kind that was in Greece, when he rescued Shell. He slowly pulled out his weapon and set it. The medallions were almost done. He raised his weapon and aimed to the left this time, and fired the beam. This got everyone’s attention. He hit his target, and it lit up. The same oval eyed gray creature he had seen before. It slowly moved toward him. Aidan came up and drew his rifle, and joined in. It advanced closer, but it was now in distress. Gloria began to scream. The gray figure was next to Gloria, when the force field went down.
John, and the others, were hit with a wave of energy. Jay glanced at the coins, briefly seeing Draco grab one before the wave hit, throwing everyone to the floor. The energy wave was relatively weak, allowing Gloria to hold out a hand and suck up the medallions. The energy wave was weak and everyone was back on their feet in seconds. Maya attacked Gloria, with ferocity, fangs and claws. From Jay’s point of view, the battle was a blur of speed and violence. The others couldn’t assist, for fear of getting in the way. Jay saw it out of the corner of his eye, again, and began firing, missing at first, he dragged the beam left, scorching the wall. He then panned right, until he found his target. The others joined in.
Jay angrily moved forward. “Abbadon, you’re done here, leave!” The creature’s glow from enemy fire, stopped, as if, disturbed by being recognized. It vanished.
The faux Gloria was battered. It pushed Maya away, she then flew in for the kill. A bright flash of white light blasted Maya to the other side of the room. The E-suit had been overpowered, and she lay in a smoldering heap. Jay, Draco, and Rhe-A ran to her aid. Xen metamorphized, and clawed himself up to the ceiling, and raced across. Aidan was firing his weapon as he came across the room. John moved in closer to reengage the force field. Without touching him, Gloria tossed him away, like garbage. Xen leaped from the ceiling and landed on her. He bit down and clawed her at the same time, until she grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, and slammed him down on the floor. The impact splintered the stone floor. A yelp, and he lay still. She hiked the floor length dress up, and stepped over him. She angrily marched toward Jay. Aidan kept firing, but beam and projectiles were deflected. Rhe-A stood from examining Maya to meet the monster.
John recovered, and was up, trying to reengage the field. He determined it couldn’t trap her again, but it could act as a barrier between it and his crew. A slight hum, and she stopped, sensing the barrier was up again. The Gloria creature focused on Rhe-A, just on the other side of the field. Rhe-A mentally fought back. The creature was losing ground, and was enraged. The room began to vibrate, small stones and dust fell from the ceiling.
“We need to get out of her,” Jay said. “That bitch is going to bring this whole place down on us.”
The vibration got worse. Rhe-A went on the offense, and tried to break through her defenses, she immediately realized this was a mistake. Rhe-A began to rise off the floor. Her head rolled back, eyes began to bleed. John threw everything he could at the beast, but it deflected everything. Jay was kneeling with Draco beside Maya. He took his pistol and started for the creature.
Draco took his arm. “No, my friend. She will disintegrate you, or worse, capture you.”
“I can’t just sit here. She’s killing everyone I care about.”
“Then let me.” He took out his personal medallion and slipped the overly gaudy, intricately designed ring, off his finger, and passed it to Jay. “It has a data chip in it. Mother will know what to do with it. May I have your pistol?” Jay handed it over, numbly. Draco pressed a few buttons and stuck it into his jacket pocket.
Maya’s badly burned hand reached up and took his collar. “No, Draco, you can’t win.”
“I know, but I should be able to buy you some time.”
Her raspy voice continued, “You don’t have to do this.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Why?”
“Atonement, or redemption, for what I did. I love you, Mother.”
The quaking room was coming down in large stones. Draco took off so fast, Jay only saw a shadow. He could’ve sworn the man controlled time and space as he collided with his possessed sister. He wrapped his arms around her, and continued to push her back. They reached the wooden door she had emerged from. It exploded into splinters as they burst out of the room, into the cavern. They rolled down broken stone steps and flipped over the edge into a deep crevice.
The room was collapsing. The entryway was a rubble of stone and dirt. John telekinetically pulled Xen’s body close to the group. Rhe-A was released, and Jay caught her before she hit the floor. He dragged her over to the rest as well. She was sitting up, shaking her head. John was straining to keep the ceiling at bay. Xen, had started to transformed back, after unconsciousness. He moaned and rolled over on his side, stretching and putting his bones back in the original places.
A bright white light, followed by an explosion, came from the destroyed doorway to the cavern. A chain reaction had been started by the overloaded pistol deep underground.
“I’m going to need some help,” John yelled over the noise. “Rhe-A, stand there.” He pointed to his right. “Xen, there.” He pointed to his left. “Now, give me all you have.”
Rhe-A moved a few feet away from Jay. The room dropped boulders and dirt down. Xen weakly stood a
few more feet away. The three formed a triangle, and began chanting. The rocks and debris piled up beside them. Maya was laying on her back with her mutilated hands up, chanting in sync. The Earth was held at bay. Jay saw it as being in a glass pyramid fish tank. The quaking subsided as the area was completely engulfed and pitch black. He could hear the group continue chanting. The invisible pyramid walls began to glow red hot as rock and dirt started to melt. The glowing slowed and started to cool into smooth solid rock walls.
The walls still had a slight glow to them, when John dropped to his knees. Xen crumpled into a pile. Rhe-A was frozen, and was falling like a felled tree. Jay caught her again, and softly let her continue to the floor. Aidan looked after Xen, while John crawled over to Maya. Jay held Rhe-A in his arms. The suit goggles formed over his eyes so he could see after the red glow died away. Dried bloody tears stained her face. He found her weak pulse and sighed a breath of relief. Her eyes flicked open. The blood vessels around her blue irises were red and swollen.
Rhe-A spoke with a cracking voice, “Did I protect you?”
“Duh, of course you did. You know, with questions like that, I’m going to have to move you down to chimp status.”
“At least I’ll be in good company.”
Jay smiled. She closed her eyes and faded off into a healing sleep.
The comm system crackled to life, “John,” Athene-A’s voice said, “we’re coming to get you. Hold on.”
“Understood,” the relief in his voice was obvious.
A few minutes later, a hole appeared on the far pyramid wall. Athene-A glided down to the floor, first, followed by Apollo. John was the closest to her, so she checked on him. She pointed to Maya, and Apollo moved to assist. He immediately started prepping her for transport. Athene-A then went and kneeled beside Jay, studying her handheld intently, a look of relief was all Jay needed. Xen was sitting cross-legged on the floor, concentrating.
Shelly was preparing the med-chambers, when patients started to arrive. She hissed at the damage Maya sustained, and for a brief moment, felt sorry for her. They closed the tube and put her away for healing.
Jay was beat up, but the nanites were working on him. Aidan and Xen, both, refused the chamber. After a few injections, Rhe-A was up and alert. She made her way to the battle table with Jay and Aidan in tow. Athene-A fawned over John. He didn’t seem to mind. Once she was satisfied, they all made their way to the table.
Shelly looked around. “Where’s Draco?” She innocently asked.
“He sacrificed himself to save us,” Jay said.
“Oh,” she responded with tears welling up in her eyes.
“Did we find the tracker skull?” Athene-A inquired.
“No,” John solemnly answered. “We were led to more medallions to get a greater range.”
“Did you retrieve them?”
“No, and we lost the others, too.”
A horrified look came over her, and Shelly’s, faces.
“So, all of the sacrifices...were in vain?” Athene-A muttered.
Jay reached into a pocket. “We still have one. Draco gave it to me just before.... He said Maya would know what to do with it.” He dropped it on the table. The teardrop side showed. He studied it, as if it reminded him of something. “Wait, you said these suits record everything, right?”
“Well, most things, when not interfered with, why?” John answered.
“Can you take mine back, just before the attack?”
John waved a hand around, several times. “I’ve coordinated all the suits in the room.” A perfect 3-D image formed above the table. It showed Maya with fangs and claws out frozen in her attack.
“Move it back a little, and from my point of view,” Jay said, staring intently at the scene.
John did so. It showed Draco’s face. “Okay, move it forward slowly.” The scene showed Jay looking back and forth, from the Destroyer to a heat bubble, and then back to Draco. A glance at the coins, and back to the Monsters, and then back to the coins, until the creature sucks the coins up. “Wait, uh, stop. Move it back slowly.” John did so, again. It was but a glance, but it was enough. “There, I looked at the medallions. Can you change the angle and clarify?” The scene rotated, and there it was, all the medallions were lined up. “Let’s line them up on the world map.”
John began manipulating the computer. His full concentration on where the coins pointed, in relation to everything around them. “Got it.” A 3-D world popped up. “Here’s the direction.” The thin red line started at their point, and drew itself around the planet.
Jay took over and zoomed in. He carefully traced the area as it went South East of their position. He didn’t get far before he said, “That son-of-gun.”
“What?” Shelly anxiously asked. “What do you see?”
“I recognize the coordinates. The line crosses paths with the dig site in Greece. Gramps, you wily fox. He took us in a circle to throw off the Destroyers, or anyone else, for that matter.”
Xen leaned forward and asked, “Do you think the skull is there, or just more medallions?”
“I believe we’ve come full circle. I’m willing to bet the skull in there. I think it’s in the landslide area, where I felt a sensation, or a pull of something.”
Aidan snorted. “We could also assume that the Destroyers know, also.”
“Right, Aidan, set us a course for Chrysalis. Send orders to secure the dig site, I don’t want to walk into another trap. We’re going in with back up this time.”
The group scrambled about in preparation for the final push.
“How much longer, Aidan?” John asked from the battle table.
“Our flight plan will take us twenty-three point three minutes out of the way,” he said, from the flight deck.
“Understood, bring us in quietly.”
“John, I have General Masters waiting to speak with you,” Apollo said, from across the table.
“Put her through.” A pause. “General, congratulations on the promotion,” John said to the 3-D image above the table.
“It may be a curse. I’ll let you know. I’ve spoken to the President. It wasn’t easy, but I made the case, but he wants proof of your existence before he’ll commit.”
“Understandable, and if I survive this next encounter, I would be happy to comply.”
“I knew it had to be you. We are getting reports from all over the Mediterranean. Some Greek military defections, also some defections from bordering countries. The satellites are picking up strange anomalies. Science department is working on that.”
“We feel we are the verge of a very important discovery in our fight against the Destroyers. They will move to stop us. We’ve spotted a detachment of Hagha’Kyum converging on our intended location.”
“My sources are now telling me, there is heavy movement from neighboring countries. I’ll send you what I can, but it won’t be much, because of all the international treaties. I’ll try to direct the Greek forces to assist you. Cover story; your anti-terrorist group trying to prevent a major attack.”
“Any help would be appreciated, General.”
“We need something to distinguish you as the good guys. Color, maybe?”
“Sky blue,” Jay said from the side. The image turned in his direction.
“Jay, you look worse for wear.”
His face was still smudged from their last Destroyer encounter. Dried blood and dirt on his E-suit made him look beaten. “I’m fine, you should see the other guy.”
She smiled. “How’s Shell?”
“I’m fine Mother.” The image now turned to her.
A sigh of relief came over her Mother’s face. “John,” she said, looking at her daughter. “Do not take her into combat, she has no training.”
“Understood, I will be dropping her, Jay, and my wounded off at Chrysalis before we make contact.”
“Thank you. Now, I have to make some strange calls.” The image winked out.
John looked down at the board. Informat
ion was coming in quickly as he sorted it out, and spoke, “Pandor-A, how’s the TSD retrieval coming?”
Only her voice came through the comm. “I am retrieving as many as the TSD will allow. You were not specific on which parameters in which to choose who comes out.”
“Any, and all the ones who volunteered for this kind of situation, are welcome on this one.”
“Understood.”
“Is Dionysus, or Hephaestus, available?”
“Affirmative, both.”
“Good, put them in charge of their own groups, and coordinate from Chrysalis.”
“Do you think it wise to have so much top leadership in one place?”
“We are committed.”
“As you wish.”
“Do our Inquisitor friends have any advice?”
“They are uncharacteristically quiet.”
“Of course, We’ll be there soon.” He, and Athene-A, were moving symbols around the table. Xen was talking to his comm unit. Apollo was getting equipment ready, Shelly looked confused.
“Gramps, I’m going with you,” Jay said, over the organized chaos.
He, and Athene-A, stopped. “Jay, your job is done,” John sympathetically said. “I’ve risked your life too many times, already. No.”
Jay pleaded his case. “I can still be useful. It may take precious time to actually locate the skull, more lives will be lost. You know I can feel it.”
“Jay,” his Grandmother responded, “you have proven yourself many times over. You have nothing left to prove to us.”
“I can finish this quickly, saving lives. That’s what matters.”
“I don’t know, Jay. You’ve done more for us than we could’ve ever asked.” John faltered. He then looked back at the table. “The dig site hasn’t been taken, yet. If we get their first, we could easily defend it, until the skull is recovered, and then once we have it, we can retreat to a safe distance.”
“If Jay goes, I’ll protect him,” Rhe-A said from behind them.
